None
Not Applicable.
This invention relates in general to adjusting bearings that are mounted in opposition to each other and, more particularly, to a compact gauge utilized to set such bearings and a process embodied in the operation of the gauge.
Rotating shafts see widespread use in a variety of machinery. Typically, a shaft rotates in a housing on a pair of single row antifriction bearings. These bearings may take the form of two single row tapered roller bearings mounted in opposition. In this type of mounting, one bearing is adjusted against the other to control the setting of the bearings, and that setting may range from end play in which some clearance exists in the bearings to preload in which no clearance exists in the bearings and axis has greater rigidity. While preload affords greater rigidity, excessive preload can damage the bearings, and preload can fluctuate with temperature variations. Thus, some bearings are set to end play to avoid the possibility of excessive temperature-induced preload.
In any event, the setting in a pair of opposed tapered roller bearings often depends on a spacerxe2x80x94indeed, the thickness of a spacer behind one of the bearing races or at some other location on the mounting. But taking accurate measurements directly from a mounting that contains the bearing so as to determine the thickness required for a spacer that will provide the bearings with the proper setting, is often difficult, if not impossible because the surfaces from which the measurements need to be taken are often inaccessible or are not stable enough to effect a precise measurement.
A procedure exists for, in effect, projecting a bearing surface out of a bearing mounting, placing the bearing component that normally operates against the bearing surface against the projected surface, and making the measurements for the spacer externally of the mounting with a dial indicator or linear variable displacement tranducer (LVDT). This procedure utilizes a gauge which is somewhat heavy and cumbersome, and certainly tiring to use over extended periods of time, such as on a line where gear boxes or pinion assemblies are assembled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,599 discloses such a gauge.
The present invention resides in a gauge that is used to provide a pair of bearings that are mounted in opposition with the correct setting. The gauge has a base and male and female elements that shift axially on the base independently of each other, and the elements in turn have gauging surfaces which bear against separated components of the bearing and are urged apart by a spring. The distance between equal diameters on those components is used to compute the size of a spacer that will give the bearings the proper setting, and that distance is ascertained by measuring the strain in the spring of the gauge. The invention also resides in the gauge fitted against a machine component from which one of the races is separated and also in a process for making the measurement.